YEREVAN. – Ruben Vardazaryan, Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) of Armenia, refuses—from the National Assembly (NA) tribune—to respond to the political questions of the ruling My Step bloc. He said this in response to My Step MP Artur Hovhannisyan’s question: "What else should have happened so that we would not believe that your statement made on November 15 was political?"

"Yesterday I once again studied the Judicial Code, the NA Rules of Procedure, and I inform you that the SJC, the chairman of the SJC, and the judicial power [of Armenia] are not accountable to the NA. Therefore, I have no obligation to answer questions of a political nature," the SJC head emphasized.

But Hovhannisyan’s insisted that the SJC chairman is accountable to the NA because they represent the people.

On November 15 of last year, SJC chairman Ruben Vardazaryan made a statement, in which he also said: "Today, perhaps, the answer to the notorious question, which has shaken the whole society for about two years and is shameful for us judges, will be given substantively and once and for all. Are we judges whining under the walls? Or honest professionals dedicated to the homeland?”

In May 2019, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had noted of "whining judges."